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Man Made: A Memoir of My Body
With Ken Baker
Author
Wednesday, March 28, 2001; 2 p.m. EST
Even though the popular Ken Baker was a nationally ranked hockey goalie and the object of attention from girls and fans from the stands, he carried a secret that he couldn't share with anyone. For most of his teens and twenties, he suffered from a brain tumor that flooded his body with massive amounts of the hormone prolactin, which women secrete to produce breast milk.
As a result, for over a decade Baker suffered symptoms which made him totally adjust his life and question his self confidence. He had almost a total lack of interest in sex despite his attraction to women. He was impotent. He worked out but saw no muscles develop. He became known as "Pear" to those in the locker room.
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Man Made: A Memoir of My Body
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"Man Made" is his story of years of confusion, pain and frustration. But there's a happy ending.
Join author Ken Baker online Monday, March 26, at 2 p.m. EST, to talk about his unusual and uplifting story.
Ken Baker attended Colgate University and is a former People magazine writer. He is now a senior staff writer for Us Weekly magazine and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
A transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Ken Baker: It's good to be back in Washington if not physically, at least electronically. I write about my year of living in D.C. (1992/1993) and my book.
Buffalo, New York:
Man Made is a great read and I think it has alot of potential as a movie. Has anyone bought the movie rights yet?
Ken Baker: No, but I actually just yesterday got contacted by a major film company about adapting it for a feature film. I think Matt Damon should play me if I don't say so myself.
Shirlington, Va.:
After ten years being the way you were, how easy was the change for you after the operation?
Ken Baker: It was at times euphoric and overall liberating but it was far from easy. It took me almost a year of what my doctor called "testosterone storm" before I started to learn the biggest lesson of my ordeal: that there's a difference between being "male" and being a "man." After my surgery I might have been male but I wasn't necessarily a better man because of it.
Washington, D.C.:
How prevalent in the population is the condition you had? What are the early signs?
Ken Baker: First of all, the best source for information about pituitary disorders is The Pituitary Network Association (www.pituitary.com). That group will be the first to tell you that data on the prevalence of pituitary tumors are unreliable because it so often goes undiagnosed or unreported by patients whose symptoms might not be as dramatic as mine. That being said, autopsy studies have shown that around 25% of all people--men and women--have at least a small "micro" tumor growth on their pituitary gland. However, the prevalence of people who report clinically recognizable symptoms has been estimated at 14 per every 1000 people in the general population. So it's a very complicated answer to a simple question.
The symptoms of a prolactin secreting pituitary tumor, which is what I had, can include the following: headaches, decreased libido, lactation from the nipples, fatigue and depression. By the way, a lot of pituitary experts believe that with the advent of Viagra, pituitary tumors are not being diagnosed because men will report to their doctors that they're having erectile problems and doctors will just give them Viagra instead of doing hormonal blood work. Also, Viagra can be bought on the black market, on the internet and through other means which is ultimately sad, I think.
Finally, women tend to be diagnosed earlier and more frequently than men because women with prolactin secreting pituitary tumors often stop menstruating which, of course, sends most women straight to the doctor.
Poquoson, Va.:
Through all of your years of doubt and
torment, it seems like you still managed
to be upbeat and optmistic. What's your
secret?
Ken Baker: Thank you for that nice comment. One of epiphanies that I had while writing Man Made was that my greatest strength -- my positive mental attitude -- was also my biggest weakness, because I had thought that I could overcome my problems through just sheer optimism and psychological strength.
Miami:
What was the actual diagnosis of your medical problem and were you more feminine before your operation. What exactly was done to you in the operation.
Ken Baker: My official diagnosis what that I had an approximately 2.5 centimeter-wide pituitary tumor secreting prolactin ... Put it this way: I felt more feminine than I looked. Although I had trouble building muscle and had more rounded features than I do today, I did not look feminine. But being infused with a prolactin level of almost 1,600 (the normal level is 10) will do a really good job at making you FEEL somewhat female. Don't forget, prolactin is primarily a female hormone.
The operation I had in June of 1998 removed 98% of the tumor by accessing the base of my brain via my sinus cavity.
Washington, D.C.:
What's the story about Drew Barrymore?
Ken Baker: During my stint as correspondent for People magazine based in Hollywood, I often would interview and socialize with celebrities. I had interviewed Drew Barrymore some time around early 1997 (before my diagnosis, mind you) and I was invited to attend a party she was throwing in Hollywood. I went, desperately wanting to "hit on her;" we flirted, but when it came down to it, I fled the encounter. I write about this episode in great detail in Man Made.
Santa Cruz, Calif.:
In the book you talk about the woman who ultimatly got you to seek medical attention. What was it about her and/or that time in your life which caused you to seek help?
Ken Baker: It's a great question. The woman who urged me to see a doctor had concluded that my problems were NOT psychological but probably physical in nature. The reason why she was able to come to that conclusion was that I finally had allowed someone to get close enough to me to love me, and through opening up myself up like that I was able to start to not only get in touch with myself but to also love myself. With her, I no longer was keeping my sexual problems a secret, which is a major theme in my book: keeping secrets can kill you. But oftentimes when you reveal secrets, beautiful things can happen.
Washington, D.C.:
Hey Ken, this is Heidi. In your book, you forgot to mention the totally brilliant copy editor who made "Ken&Glenn" what it was. Just kidding. Congratulations on everything, dude! (P.S. The description of Will is hilarious.)
Ken Baker: For those of you who have no idea what she's talking about, Heidi and I used to work together at a newspaper in Newport News, Virginia and indeed, she was brilliant. The Will she's referring to was the newspaper's testosterone-fueled managing editor -- a real character.
Long Beach, Calif.:
In your book, you refer to yourself
facetiously as a "mutant." Do you think
that, perhaps, you may actually -be- that?
That you might be the next step in human
evolution?
Ken Baker: Being a "mutant" can never be a good thing when you have a tumor the size of a chestnut on the base of your brain.
Silver Spring, Md.:
Did you ever think you would become a poster boy for sexual dysfunction?
Ken Baker: No, I always thought I'd be a famous hockey player but sometimes a power greater than you chooses your calling.
Arlington, Va.:
Men with enlarged breasts was explored on a 20/20 last week. Did you see that and if you did, is that what you had?
Ken Baker: I did not see that show, and that is not the condition that I had, but I have received numerous e-mails from me who do suffer from that condition and what I've learned that we have in common is that it can be very painful looking and feeling like a man whose body would never see the light of day on the cover of Men's Health.
Tamworth, NH:
How are you able to talk about such personal subject material?
Ken Baker: Because I had kept my story such a secret for so long it felt so liberating to have the strength to tell it.
Charlotte, North Carolina:
What's it like going through puberty in a week?
Ken Baker: That's not entirely accurate. The fact is that my "puberty" did not start at age 27, rather it had finally begun to complete its course. What was THAT like? Dizzying. Amazing. Orgasmic. Empowering. Confusing. I started writing this book to reconcile all those conflicting emotions.
Westfield, NJ:
I just read the book. It's really great. I just wanted to know if what you went through has caused you, in any way, to reevalute the entertainment industry -- in which you work?
Ken Baker: Yes, big time. But right now I look at my career in entertainment journalism the same way that an idealistic congressman might look at his participation in a very flawed government. I recognize the social problems that the deification of celebrities both causes and reflects in our culture, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I don't think that I can be part of the solution rather than just contributing to the problem.
Washington, D.C.:
the Post reviewer seemed really interested in your father. Can you talk more about your dad and how his attitudes affected your own?
Ken Baker: I grew up watching my father be stricken with heart attacks, diabetes and almost every health problem you could imagine, including what ultimately killed him, cancer. He hated doctors and did everything he could to avoid them. There's no question that I had inherited that same practice from him. But my father and I aren't unique in that respect. I believe it is, and I don't think I'm overstating this point, a male epidemic in our society. That is, men are not in touch with their bodies and they don't want to reveal weakness. Sure, this might be an evolutionary adaptive behavior for survival, but that doesn't mean that we as a gender can't take better care of ourselves.
Washington DC:
Ken, Greetings from all your friends at the ABC assignment desk in Washington. We're all glad to hear you're doing well. We only have one question, why did the Dateline piece neglect to mention the fact that you honed your journalistic skills here? What are the chances that the tumor may return and do you have to take hormone regulating drugs to prevent such a recurrence? Luis
Ken Baker: I'd venture to guess that Dateline NBC just thought that ABC were the wrong initials ... I take two prolactin-suppressing pills a week (in fact, I just took one before this chat) because I still have a very small portion of the tumor lodged close to my carotid artery on the right side of my head. So far, the tumor is not growing. But I get MRI's every year to make sure.
Iowa:
How do you go from being a hockey goalie to a writer. Did you major in journalism.
On a personal note, when did you have your operation and are you married, any children.
Ken Baker: Two years after I retired from hockey, I received my master's degree in journalism. No longer being able to use my body as an athletic instrument, I was forced to used my intellect.
I had my operation in June of '98. I got married last summer to the coolest chick in the world and I suspect that we will have a kid within the next few years (but not until I write my next book, which is probably going to be about my playing minor pro hockey next season).
Winnamucca, Nevada:
In the book you talk about going through this extremely risky procedure so you could "be a man," so you could pro-create and make love, etc. But if you had been willing to give up all that wouldn't the tumor have endangered your health and life?
Ken Baker: Having surgery was a gamble. I could've gone on living a much lower quality of life on medication, but I had suffered long enough.
Ken Baker: Here's my Jerry Springer-esque final thought: Those secrets that you are keeping that you think are far too embarrassing or shameful to reveal to anyone, are not.
washingtonpost.com:
That was our last question today. Thanks to Ken Baker, and to
everyone who joined us.
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© Copyright 2001 The Washington Post Company | 
